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Neo's Love for Baking

Kristine Tome
Sep 17, 2018
2 min read

One of our members at We Bake We Love shared her story about how her son, Neo, loves baking. Here's their story:

My husband Jerry and I were blessed with four wonderful children. My second child Neo who is 12 years old has autism. Having an autistic child is a challenge to any parent. As a mother, I need to find unconventional ways to make Neo feel that he is not in any way different from his siblings. One way is to make him participate in our family activities and be productive just like his big sister Noa, little sister Nia and little brother Naj. I love to cook and bake for my family. Neo have always shown interest in helping me out in the kitchen. The simplest task I could give a five year old at that time was to mix ingredients in a bowl. He tried it and loved it! He has done this task in the most diligent way making sure the ingredients are mixed well and nothing spills. I recently attended baking classes to hone my skills.

Instead of my kids sitting around and watching me bake, I thought that we can make this a family activity where everybody can join in the fun. Neo gets all excited when I tell him “Mommy will bake a cake”. He cannot measure but he can identify some of the ingredients. Mixing is still the best task he can do. It is surprising to see his focus and attention to what is in the bowl. The repetitive circling motion seems to calm him down. I can say that he is now our “master mixer” while the rest of my kids help with measuring, pouring and most of all—tasting. Finding that one thing my special child is very motivated to do was a blessing.

Baking is now the family’s hobby. Of course, my family cannot consume all these delicious goodies by ourselves and what better way than to sell so others can sample our decadent baked goods all made with much patience and love. My hands and four sets of little hands will be tied up with the “production line” so my husband will handle the marketing side of our soon-to-be small family business that started simply with the “love of mixing” by my special child Neo.